The Kindle Oasis is Lighter, Brighter, Faster, Stronger

While movies and TV and video games all have their detractors, reading remains the benchmark of healthy entertainment, a universally accepted way to reduce boredom by entering another world for a few hours. Thanks to e-readers, that world got a whole lot bigger. Now you can have an entire library at your fingertips at any time in any place, at a weight that’s far (far, far) less than your average Tolstoy novel.

Amazon has been leading the charge in the realm of e-readers with no indication of slowing down. They debuted the first Kindle in 2007 and it sold out in just a few hours. They’ve come a long way since then and their newest model, the Kindle Oasis, upholds the company’s standards of quality and convenience by improving upon virtually every aspect of previous designs. The price point has a few customers grumbling (especially since the acclaimed Amazon Paperwhite is much cheaper), but the technology and design itself is indisputably fantastic. We got our hands on the Kindle Oasis and took it for a test drive, or test read rather. Here was what we found.

Design

The first thing that leapt to mind upon unveiling the Oasis was lightness. Holy crap is this e-reader light and thin! And we mean as light as a trade paperback novel–20%-30% thinner than previous Kindles. The handgrip tapers to 0.13″ which is like a few notches above pure invisibility if you ask us. Convenience has never felt so convenient. After all, it’s hard enough finishing War and Peacewithout the fact that the book usually weighs a few pounds.

The Oasis also flaunts a wider side and new ergonomic grip designed for optimum compatibility. As a result the device feels incredibly organic in your hand, and the extra space means no more accidental pushing of page buttons while you read. When you turn the device on its side the display screen turns with you to ensure that you don’t have to hang upside down just to find out who killed Roger Ackroyd (a literary reference for all you avid e-readers out there). The Oasis also comes with a removable charging cover made of high-quality leather. The cover opens like a book, marking a return to the Paperwhite cover style over the more recent “origami” style cover.

Overall, the design is pretty much the quintessence of convenience and precision, thanks primarily to the highly bearable lightness of its being (another literary reference–keep up people!). We imagine the only way they could make this device any lighter is to directly upload the text onto the palm of your hand, which let’s face it doesn’t sound all that appealing.

Features

The Oasis either sustains or advances upon previous e-readers in every arena. The text resolution is crystal clear at 300 ppi and the built-in light flaunts 60% more LEDs than any previous model, meaning improved brightness in all lighting conditions and reduced strain on the eyes. The size of the display screen is 6″, the same as other Kindles since some things are better left un-changed. The battery life is better than ever and can last for months as opposed to weeks. The page-turns are Touchscreen plus page-turn buttons. The library holds thousands of books. The connectivity is Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi plus 3G. And, as already mentioned, you’ve never experienced such a light device!

Usability

As if it weren’t abundantly clear, the Oasis is easily the most user-friendly e-reader in Amazon’s portfolio. Its amazing lightness paired with improved LED display and an ergonomic grip makes for a device that can adapt to any environment at any time of day under any lighting conditions. Never before has an e-reader been so accommodating. Being that our device was completely free of glitches, there’s virtually nothing negative we could say about this product.

Conclusion

It’s too easy to recommend the Amazon Kindle Oasis to all the passionate (or casual) readers out there. The only potential drawback is again the price. The Oasis comes in at AUD$449 at Officeworks, which marks a pretty steep increase over Amazon’s massively popular Paperwhite. But as they say, you get what you pay for, and thanks to next-level usability and convenience the Oasis definitely lives up to the price point. It’s the kind of device you buy and soon after wonder how you ever managed without one.